The Whirlpool Magical Son: Book 1
by NatsuLucyLover
Summary: AU.WBL.FemNaru. Takao could still remember the day his mother picked him up so it didn't really surprise him when his mother told him he was adopted. However, going to Hogwarts and finding out that his biological parents were alive was a whole different story. Though it didn't matter to Takao because he was going to show the Wizardly World what the son of Uzumaki Naru can do.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I'll update my other fics soon but this story had been in my mind for a while, so please review and tell me what you think.

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Harry was nearly three years old when he met his adopted mother for the first time in his life.

He remembered seeing a petite red-haired woman with pretty blue eyes walking towards him with concern in her eyes as his wonderful Aunt Petunia played games with Dudley. The first thing that came to Harry's mind when he saw the red-haired woman walking to him was how much her hair reminded him of fire. Her red hair was so vibrant, so striking that Harry knew the woman drew attention to herself without even trying. The second thing which stood out to him was the whisker-like marks adorned on her cheeks, reminding him of the pictures of the foxes in one of Dudley's old storybooks. The next thing which finally came to his mind was that her eyes were just like his.

It was just as lonely as her.

"Hey kiddo, do you want to play by the swings?" The red-haired woman asked him, kneeling down till she was at eye-level with him. Her bright blue eyes twinkled as she placed her hand on his head.

"Swings? Don't ya want to play with the swings like your brother? Wait, he's your brother right?" She asked, placing her hands on his head. "Though ya two don't look anything and ya don't look like your mother. Ya a hell lot more pretty than them."

"Swings?" Was this lady really going to play with him? Was this really happening? No one in the neighbourhood played with him. He couldn't help but look at her with wide eyes, hoping and praying that the woman was actually going to play with him.

She vigorously nodded her head. "Yup, I'll push you if you want!" she smiled widely at him, displaying her white teeth at him. "I'll push you so high that you'll feel like you're flying! I will push you so high that you can touch the sky, how about that?"

"Really?" She nodded her head and without even thinking, Harry waved his hands at her and squealed as the woman picked him up from the ground. She smiled widely at him, swinging him back and forth as she took him towards the other toddler swing set, which was about fifty meters away from his cousin and aunt. Was this what being loved felt like? He wondered, snuggling his head against the woman's chest as she carried him towards the swing.

If that was the case then he never ever wanted to leave the woman.

This woman felt so warm, Harry thought, staring shyly at the red-haired woman. She looked similar to the red-haired woman in his dreams. In his dreams, he saw a red-haired woman and black-haired man apologizing to him as an old man took him as a boy with the same hair stared at him. Sometimes, Harry pretended those people were his parents and that they were alive, searching for him but Harry knew they would never come for him.

He was the freak after all.

"Y'know I can't put you in the swing if ya don't let go of me," the woman said, giving him a big smile.

"Sorry."

The woman put him down on the ground, kneeled down till they were at eye level before shaking her head at him. "Kiddo, ya don't say sorry for something like that. I don't mind if ya cling to me but ya can't play with the swings if ya hold on to me."

He nodded his head and giggled as the red-haired woman grabbed him from the waist and placed him in the swings. Twisting his body around, Harry smiled widely at the woman, who smiled right back at him. Looking at her and then to his Aunt Petunia, who was too busy trying to calm down Dudley, Harry wished he could spend more time with this pretty woman.

She was so nice, so much better than his Aunt Petunia.

His thoughts were interrupted when the pretty woman pushed him. He closed his eyes as he felt the wind brushed against his cheeks, tickling him as if it was happy to meet him. He opened his eyes and reached his tiny arms out, wishing to catch the clouds that seemed so close to him. Could he go higher? He wanted to touch the clouds, wanted to feel more of the wind against his cheeks but if he asked, would the woman agree to it? He didn't want to make her angry like his aunt and uncle but, Harry knew this woman was different from his relatives.

"Higher, please?" He asked, looking up at the pretty woman with wide eyes.

Smiling widely, the woman nodded and pushed the swing harder than before. He felt the winds picked up and if Harry closed his eyes, he could almost imagine flying with the clouds, being free from the Dursley. He wanted to have this feeling. He wanted to continue being around this woman. He never ever wanted to go back with Aunt Petunia and be forced to do chores.

He felt his smile faded as he felt the winds slowed down. Twisting his head around, Harry gazed at the red-haired woman, who had her eyes fixed on his Aunt Petunia and Dudley, who were now making their way to the car.

"Why stop?" He asked her.

She smiled sadly. "Your Mum and brother are leaving so that means I've to give you back to them before they go back home," The red-haired woman explained, smiling tightly at him but Harry knew from the tears leaking out of her eyes that she didn't want him to go to. "We don't want your Mum to worry about you right?"

"I don't go!"

"Your Mummy and Daddy will be very sad if they don't see ya," she said, shaking her head and looking at his aunt. "You don't want to make them sad do ya?"

"Mummy and Daddy gone! Aunt Petunia say they died in a car crash," he sniffed, looking up at her with teary eyes. He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes with the sleeves of Dudley's shirt. "Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon don't care about Freak. I'm a Freak. They only care about Dudley."

The woman bit her lips, gazed at his aunt and then at him before closing her eyes. He looked down at his hands, wishing and praying that if the woman took him to his aunt that she won't ever mention what he just said about them. He didn't want to have his uncle bring out the belt or have no food for a week because he forgot the rules they gave him.

Smiling widely, she said. "I'm going to take care of ya...and your name isn't Freak. From this day onwards, I'm going to call ya Takao, yup, you're going to be Uzumaki Takao!"

He smiled widely at the woman and hugged her tightly, causing the red-haired woman to laugh at him.

"I hope Sasuke won't be too much of a whiner when I bring ya with me."

* * *

Even though they had spent the last five years travelling the world, Sasuke was still surprised the amount of times that his girlfriend had avoided getting into trouble with the law enforcement. When they spent two years in Japan, the girl had cheated in poker without getting caught, stole a couple of things to pay off any debt they had and even tricked a couple of people to give them a free room. Though the last part was more of the men being fooled by Naru's looks.

Still, this was the first time Naru brought a kid to their hotel, Sasuke thought, staring at the sleeping form of the little boy that Naru decided to pick up from the park. How the hell did the girl end up with a kid? She stormed out of their hotel room just under a hour ago and now she was back with a little thin boy. What the hell was he going to do with the dobe and her habit of butting in people's business?

" _Why do you have a kid, dobe?_ " He asked, crossing his arms against his chest. " _And where did you find him?"_

" _I found him in a park being ignored by his aunt,"_ he folded his arms and raised his eyebrows at her. " _I was going to give him back to his aunt Sasuke but he didn't want go back to her...and he looked so lonely watching her play with his cousin. She called him freak too! Which is stupid because he isn't a freak since he's the cutest kid in the world."_

" _You tell the police when you see a kid neglected,"_ he hissed, gazing at the sleeping child. " _You don't take in a kid because you feel sorry for them. If we do that then we'll have to take in every orphan we saw in our journey around the world. Do you even know how to raise a kid? It isn't like babysitting! This is real responsibility."_

" _Give him to the police where they'll take him to the orphanage? Sasuke, you have never been in an orphanage but orphanages are hell,"_ Naru said, narrowing her eyes at him. " _I'm not going to let the kid experience hell. I don't want him to feel anymore loneliness, this kid deserved to feel loved! Look at him and tell me you don't feel one bit sad for the poor boy! He's like me! He doesn't even know his mother and father. I don't want him to think that…"_

 _No one loved him_ , Sasuke finished silently, watching as his girlfriend placed the sleeping child in the middle of their bed. She smiled softly, placed her hand against the boy's forehead and gazed deeply at him. " _Ya know they call him a freak? Ya know if I take him there then the boy might start to think his name is Freak. He might start to question himself...and I don't want that."_

" _Dobe…"_

" _Sasuke, look at the boy and tell me that you don't want to kidnap him and make sure he's a happy child,"_ Naru declared softly, staring wide-eyed at him.

Sasuke pursed his lips and gazed at the sleeping boy, noticing for the first time how thin his face and body was. From the amount of times he saw starving kids in the road, Sasuke knew the boy wasn't eating enough and could potentially get sick if he continued like this. He felt his throat dried as Naru stared hopefully at the boy and then at him. No, he wasn't going to let Naru do this to herself.

He opened his mouth to tell her this but closed his mouth when the little boy twisted his body around till he laid down on his tummy. The little boy was cute, he admitted, watching as the boy shuffled closer to Naru. He looked so innocent, so happy and so small that Sasuke couldn't even find it in himself to tell Naru that the boy had to go back to his relatives.

His resolve continued to crumbled as Naru hugged the boy tightly, whispering soft words to the boy. For the fifth time this year, his mind conjured images of Naru holding a blue-eyed red-haired and black-haired children. The image disappeared in his mind, reminding him that this could be their life but only if he could forgive himself for the actions that he caused to Naru.

It was a miracle that Naru agreed to date him but Sasuke knew better than to question it.

" _Y'know people will talk about the fact that we came back with a kid_ ," Sasuke said, staring deeply into Naru's eyes. " _They will talk about him, about us and what we have been doing for the past five years. Do you think you can handle it?"_

" _I don't care about what they say about us,"_ Naru answered firmly, smiling at him. " _I don't care about what they say because I made my choice. If they don't like the fact that I'm dating ya then screw them because I know you better than they do. You might have made some stupid mistakes but so does everyone and I ain't letting some old farts or some civilians make decisions on who I'm dating. You're my partner and we've been together for four years now. Us having a three year old kid won't seem crazy...y'know we do everything backwards."_

" _The boy can pass off as my kid because of the hair colour but the green eyes? No one in our family had green eyes."_

" _Didn't Sakura-chan say something that mutation could cause an eye-colour to change?"_ Naru asked, gazing wide-eyed at him. " _I don't care what people say because as long as I've him and you with me then everything will be fine. If they ask who his father is then I'm telling them that he's yours."_

The fire in her eyes told Sasuke that no matter what he said to her that Naru wouldn't give up on the boy. If he even tried to point out how hard it would be for them to raise the boy because of their jobs then Naru would try to find some way to prove him wrong. How was she going to accomplish her dream of becoming Hokage with a kid? He quirked his lips.

This was Naru he was talking about and while Naru may act like an idiot, the girl was cunning when she wanted to be. It wouldn't surprise him if she did find a way to climb to the top while dealing with a kid.

" _You sure you want to tell everyone that he's my son?"_ Sasuke asked her, staring deeply into her eyes. " _It's one thing to be in a relationship with me and it's another thing to say that he's my son. People might take him the wrong way because he's my kid."_

" _Screw them because you're a better men then most,"_ Naru answered, giving him a smile before giving him a quick kiss in the lips. " _Besides, who else will I claim to be the father? Everyone knows that I've never looked at any other guy but you so me having a one night stand is impossible. He's going to be our kid, our first child. He's going to be Uzumaki Takao."_

" _Hn. Uchiha Takao!"_

" _No."_

" _If I'm the father then he must have my last name."_

" _C'mon let me have one kid that have my last name,"_ Naru cried. " _Y'know if we did get married, all of our kids will have your name or the very least be called Uchiha-Uzumaki! I want one kid with my last name!"_

Sasuke grunted at her words but not before glancing at the sleeping boy. This might be the worse decision they made, this could lead them to so much trouble but Sasuke knew that this little boy would be worth it. He might be the person that could heal Naru's broken heart.

" _Fine but I get to pick our next kid name."_

" _What? No! You'll pick something that will make them sound arrogant! I ain't raising a second Sasuke!"_

With those words, Harry Potter no longer existed and would never be declared missing by his relatives. His biological parents would never find out that the son that they left was being trained to be a ninja until the First Year of Hogwarts.

Professor Dumbledore would never learned that Harry Potter left the Dursley's home until a couple of months later.

In the years to come, Uzumaki Takao would be taught to play pranks by his adopted mother, would be trained by his adopted father and various aunts and uncles, who would try to spoil him behind his adopted parents back. He would be forced to learn to adapt by his family and would have a little brother born to him in the coming two years.

But for now, Uzumaki Takao was content in sleeping through his adopted parents' argument over what their last name should be once they were married.

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A/N: Please review


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I want to thank everyone who reviewed and added this story to their favourites. I also want to thank everyone who reviewed.**

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"Mum! Dad! Wake up! Wake up! It's my first day of school!"

Nodding her head at her son's words, Naru groaned, rubbed her eyes and took hold of the alarm clock beside her while Sasuke just grunted and burrowed his face into the pillow. Why couldn't Takao remember the rule of not disturbing Mum and Dad before nine o'clock? Sasuke and her barely had any sleep last night because Takao wanted to spend most of the night watching the movie that the people made of her and Sasuke.

Okay, he wasn't the root of the lack of sleep. Naru took advantage of Takao and Katsu sleeping to have a little bit of a private time with her husband. It had been so long since she could do things with her husband when their kids were sleeping like a baby.

"Is Katsu awake, Takao?" Sasuke asked, stopping the little boy from bouncing up and down on their bed.

Takao shook his head. "Katsu is still sleeping! Dad, why does he sleep so much? He's been sleeping since seven o'clock last night! I want to play with him."

"Because he's a two year old, Takao," Sasuke answered, ruffling Takao's hair. "All two-year-olds sleep a lot."

Their son wrinkled his nose, reminding Naru of the amount of times she caught Sasuke doing the same thing when they were his age. It barely been four years since they came back from their journey but Naru could see a lot of similarities between her adopted son and Sasuke, one of them being the way they wrinkle their nose when they were annoyed. Sometimes, Naru thought that was seeing a mini-version of her husband in that boy.

Though they were now two mini-versions of her husband, Naru thought, giving a peck on Takao's forehead as she slipped out of the bed. Barely a year old and her youngest son took after his father in the looks department, having the same hair style and hair colour as her husband. The only thing Katsu inherited from her was her blue eyes, everything else reminded Naru of her husband.

"Mum?"

Naru twisted her body around and gazed at her oldest son, who stood there with a worried look on his face. Takao was worried? The world must be ending, Naru mused, smiling at her son. In the two years since she came back home with Sasuke, Takao had been nothing short but confident in their presence. Though that only happened after she pushed the little boy to do things he had never done before. No child of hers was going to be a nervous child.

"Yeah?"

"Will the kids like me? Will I make a lot of friends?" Takao asked, leaning back and forth. "Will I fit in? What if people hate me because I do weird things? What if people become my friend because you're my Mum? How do I know if they are my real friends? I can't play with Katsu or Inojin or Shikadai since they're still babies and can't enter the Academy."

Naru sighed, knelt down and stared at the emerald eyes of her oldest son. What could she tell him? Did she tell him the truth that no matter what happened, people were going to try to be his friend because of her? If she did that then Naru was going to make him paranoid, which was the last thing she wanted from him. At the same time, she didn't want to lie to him. Rubbing her chin, the red-haired woman smiled and ruffled her son's already messy hair.

"If the kids doesn't like you then they aren't very smart because you're the kindest, sweetest and most of all the smartest boy that they could meet," She answered, staring deeply into his eyes. "But I'm not going to lie to you Taka, people will become your friend because I'm your mother. They'll try to use you and will abandon you the moment they have the chance to save their lives. If you want to know who your real friends are then find out how truthful they are, find out if they're saying things because they mean it or if they think it's what you want to hear."

"How do I do that?"

"Play them," Naru answered truthfully, smiling. "It sounds wrong kiddo but it's the only way to find out. Y'know your father had a lot of girls asking him out but he never gave them the time of day."

Takao stared wide-eyed at her. "Why? Was it because of you? Aunt Hinata and Aunt Sakura said that Dad has been in loved with you since you guys were twelve."

Twelve? Seriously, what the hell were her friends thinking? Naru thought, rubbing the back of her neck. She never thought of Sasuke in that way until they were fifteen years old. The same went for Sasuke, though with her husband it might had been later since he had been obsessed with getting revenge until they were fifteen.

Shaking her head, Naru answered. "No because, one your father was twelve and had no interest in girls until he was fifteen...I think. The second thing was the fact Sasuke knew those girls didn't really like him, they like the idea of him but they never really liked him for who he was."

"How did he know?"

"By watching them and having me confirm it," Naru admitted, poking her finger against her son's forehead. "Y'know if I asked them why they liked him? It's because they thought he was cool, his aura was just so mysterious and they wanted to heal his broken heart. All of these things were to do with what they thought he was, not who he was. They thought he was a genius."

"What was Dad like twelve?" Takao asked as they walked towards the crib.

Naru pursed her lips. "A very arrogant boy who needed to get a smaller head, though he's still arrogant but he's gotten better He was a lonely kid, I won't deny it, but unlike me your father didn't mind not being surrounded by people. Your father wasn't mysterious, he was only mysterious because they didn't try to get to know him. Most of all, your father wasn't a genius, everything he did was due to his own hard work."

"What does arrogant mean?"

"It means they have a big head."

"If you thought Dad had a big head then why did you marry him?" Takao asked, staring wide-eyed at her.

Naru laughed and gazed down at the crib, where she could see her sleeping two-year-old clutching the stuffed dragon that Sasuke bought for him during one of his journey around the world. "Cuz he understood me better than I understood myself. He respected me when no one else did and even though your father doesn't look like it or act like it, he does make the funniest jokes. With your Dad, I never ever have to pretend. He's been there for me...most of the time."

"When hasn't he been there for you?"

As much as Naru knew how smart her son was and how understanding he was, Naru knew better than to tell her six-year-old son the story between her and Sasuke. Takao would be confused, would wonder why Sasuke did the things he did and asked her questions that she didn't know how to answer. She didn't want him to look at Sasuke the wrong way. She wanted him to mature a little bit more before they tell him the complicated story of Sasuke and her.

"I can't tell you kiddo but ask me again when you are ten and Sasuke will tell ya."

Her son pouted. "I've to wait four years to find out why?"

"Yup," Naru answered, ruffling his hair. "Now get ready for school, you don't want to be late for your first day of the Academy do ya?"

"Do you know who is going to be teaching me?" Takao asked.

"No idea."

"You're not going to spy on me like you always do whenever you hire genins to look after Katsu and me?"

"Why would I do that? That would be a waste of money," Naru answered, smiling cheekily at her son. "Now don't question me and start getting change, I want to take a picture of you!"

Her son groaned and shuffled his way out of her youngest son's room. Naru shook her head and gazed down at her only biological son. When that little boy of hers slept like this, she found it hard to believe that the boy was a little hellbringer. Kami, she hadn't gotten any proper sleep since the boy was born or had any special time with Sasuke since her son would always cling to her.

She loved her son with all of her heart but she was a person with needs too.

"Katsu is still sleeping?" Her husband asked, drawing her attention away from her son.

Naru nodded. "Yes and I feel almost guilty for taking him away from his crib but, I'm not letting any genins watch him while we take Takao to school. This is a family event that needs every family member here, which reminds me...if you ever try to do a mission that is very close to any family event again, I'll personally try to make your life hell."

Sasuke winced but made no attempts to tell her that she couldn't actually do it. She pursed her lips and grabbed hold of Katsu, who slowly blinked his blue-eyes open. The little boy smiled widely at her, grabbing hold of her red-hair like he always did whenever he caught sight of it, before burrowing his head against her chest, letting out a small yawn.

Naru just smiled softly at this.

"As soon as Takao gets in here, Katsu will stop acting like this and we'll have to deal with chasing after your two-year-old son," Sasuke declared as the two of them walked towards the living room.

"My two-year-old son? Katsu is your carbon copy," Naru declared hotly, tickling her son. "The only thing that confirms he's my kid is the whisker marks and my blue eyes, other than that he's your kid to the bone. He has a brother complex just like you used to."

"I didn't have a brother complex."

"Get away from my Nii-san," Naru said, curling her lips at him. "Nii-san, has only time for me! He's not your nii-san, he's mine! Hmm, I wonder who said that to me when I asked to play with his big brother. I think he had your hair and eyes...oh wait, that was you."

"I was six."

"No excuses, you had a brother complex from such a young age."

"Naru, I was six."

"Still no excuses."

"You followed your brother around like a lost puppy, Sasuke! No matter how anyone looks at it, you were a lost puppy without him," Naru reminded him, shaking her head. "Now there's nothing wrong with that but don't ever deny about something that I've a good memory for."

Sasuke grunted while her young son just stared at them with his eyebrows furrowed. Naru shook her head and smiled softly at the boy before glancing up at the stairs. Why was Takao taking so long? She wondered, pursing her lips. He just needed to pick some clothes to wear, which wasn't that hard to do. He would never take this long unless he was reading one of his favourite books again.

A quick glance at the living room table confirmed that her oldest child left his storybooks in the living room after playing a couple of games with Katsu.

"Takao Uzumaki! What is taking you so long to get change? If you don't come down in ten seconds, I'm going to tell your classmates about how you used to cling to my clothes whenever we used to go out. I'm going to start counting: One."

Her son appeared right in front of her before she could even utter the second number. He breathed in and out, looking at her and then to Sasuke before glancing at Katsu, who giggled and tried to wiggle his way out of her grip. Shaking her head, Naru placed her youngest son on the floor. The black-haired toddler quickly run towards Takao, waving his meaty hands at the older boy.

"Hug, Big brother!" Katsu declared, smiling widely at Takao.

Takao laughed and wrapped his slim hands around Katsu's body before picking the boy up, earning giggles from her youngest son. Naru shook her head as Takao picked the boy up and down, declaring that he would try to make Katsu fly like the hawks that Sasuke told them about.

She hoped that those two would always be the best of brothers, that they would never let anything stupid destroyed them. She wanted things to remain this way but Naru knew things didn't always go to plan.

One day something was going to destroy her family but if that day ever happened, Naru was going to make sure that the person who destroyed her family paid for it.

* * *

Today was going to be his first step of becoming a ninja, Takao thought as he walked with his parents and little brother to his new school. He was going to follow in the path of his parents, of his grandparents and ancestors but was he going to be fine? His father had trained him, had taught him how to use his chakra already and Takao could read a book perfectly fine but what if he was far behind everyone else? What if he was a terrible ninja.

He didn't want that especially since he was suppose to be a role model for Katsu. Takao wanted his little brother to be proud of him because Takao knew his mother and father would always be proud of his choices but, it would be Katsu who had to deal with the consequence. What if his little brother became bullied because he wasn't the best ninja there was? No, he would deal with the bullying if that happened. He would find some way to make their lives horrible if they hurt Katsu.

"You're still worried about school?" His father asked softly, keeping his dark eyes fixed on the shops around them.

Takao pursed his lips and nodded his head. "What if I'm no good in becoming a ninja?"

"You won't be a bad ninja."

"How can you be sure Dad?" Takao asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

His father curled his lips and stared right at him. "Because you're our kid, Taka. Your mother and I are training you so that you know how to survive the ninja world, if you don't become a good ninja then I won't ever complain about your Mum making ramen."

Takao laughed but his laughter died down when his mother twisted her body around and narrowed her eyes. Did his mother hear what his father said? Please god no because as much as Takao loved his mother, he didn't want to hear another lecture about how wonderful ramen was. He loved ramen but he didn't love it to the extent that his mother did.

"I don't know what you two said but I hope it's about your first day of school."

"Takao is just worried about not being a good ninja," His father said, placing his large hand on top of his head.

His mother nodded her head. "Of course he's going to be a good ninja! He's our kid!"

 _I'm just your kid by name,_ Takao thought, gazing at the smiling face of his mother. His mother might not know it but Takao knew very well his parents adopted him after seeing his aunt ignoring him. The memory of his mother playing with him was one of the first things he could remember, the other being another red-haired woman and a black-haired man giving him to some old man while a boy, who looked similar to him, watched it happen.

He didn't know who those people were nor did Takao want to find out because as long as he had his mother and father, everything was going to be fine.

"What if I'm far behind?" Takao asked, furrowing his eyebrows at them.

His mother snorted. "Far behind? Kiddo, I think you're far ahead compared to everyone else in your class...well at least compared to the civilian kids. There needs to be work done for them to catch up because while I respect Iruka-sensei and the rest, it doesn't cut the fact that most of the kids are far behind compared to those who were born to ninja parents."

"Why do you think they're far behind?" Takao asked.

His father sighed. "Because civilian don't know our techniques or send their kids to the Academy, thinking that their kids might be able to catch up or hoped their kids never become ninjas."

"Why wouldn't they want them to become ninjas?" Takao asked, blinking his eyes. "Being a ninja is awesome! You do more awesome things then a civilian does."

His father snorted. "We're also more likely to die Takao then a normal civilian. How many shinobis do you know who survived past the age sixty? Not many and those that do, well they are the lucky ones."

"Then why do people become shinobi? Why did you and Mama become a ninja even though you know it's a dangerous job?"

He had never really question his parents about their choices until now. Ever since he was three, Takao had always wanted to become just like his adopted parents. He wanted to be like the people who saved him from his loneliness, be like the people in the stories his parents told him of. He had never considered death but then again, his parents didn't talk about death only unless they went to his uncle's grave.

Takao remembered gazing at the grave of Itachi and wondering why the man wasn't waking up. He remembered tugging his father's sleeves, asking him why he wasn't waking up even though they were visiting them. That was the first time his father explaining to him what death was, telling him how it was the one time that people were never going to wake up from their sleep.

"I don't know about your mother but I wanted to become like my brother," his father explained. "He was a very good ninja, one of the best of his generation, and I wanted that for myself. It also didn't help it was expected of me to become a ninja since my father was the Head of the Uchiha clan."

"Did you regret becoming a ninja?" Takao asked, tilting his head at his father.

"Never," his father answered. "But Taka don't think that you have to become a ninja because of us. If you don't want to be a ninja that's alright with us."

I want to be a ninja, Takao thought, smiling widely at his father. He wasn't doing it because he felt like he was being pressured but because, he wanted too. He wanted to be like the people that everyone looked up to. He wanted to become apart of ANBU, protecting everyone silently without people knowing it was him. He wanted to do something productive with his life, wanted to reach the top and have people respect him and look at him as someone who wasn't the child of his parents.

There was no way he could have any of that if he didn't become a ninja.

"I want to be a ninja," Takao answered, gazing at his little brother who smiled widely at everyone who watched him. "A ninja is someone that protects the village right? And you, Mum and Katsu are a part of this village aren't you? I want to protect you guys like how you always protect me and Katsu."

"Only just us? What about everyone else?"

"I won't mind protecting them but they aren't like you guys or like Aunt Sakura, Aunt Ino, Aunt Hinata and everyone else," Takao answered sincerely. "They treat me differently because I'm Mum's kid, they don't know me. I don't know if they'll have my back if I wasn't your kid."

"You don't trust them huh?" His father asked, smiling wryly.

"I trust them but I don't like how they look at you, me or even Katsu," Takao answered. "Sometimes, it feels like they are waiting for something. It's like they want us to mess up or something but I don't understand why. They don't do this to the other clan kids, except us and even then...only when Mum isn't with us."

His father stared at him for a good couple of minutes before glancing at Katsu, who furrowed his eyebrows together. His mother just smiled at them but Takao noticed how his mother kept flickering her eyes at the civilians around them as if debating to do something about them. His mother would never harm them but Takao knew his mother might find a way to make their life hell.

He didn't know how but if his mother knew someone wasn't being treated right then she would find someway to fix it or do something about it.

As much as Takao hated how people stared at his father, he didn't want his mother to deal with his problems.

"Y'know I can't believe that you're going to the Academy this year," His mother said cheerfully, changing the subject. "It seems just like yesterday you would crawl into our bed, telling us that you have a nightmare about some bald man before asking in your cute little voice if you could sleep with us."

Takao flushed red at the reminder while his little brother stared wide-eyed at this. The dream that he had wasn't a nightmare, it felt more like a memory but Takao would never tell this to his mother. He could still vaguely remember seeing a bald man with no nose gazing at him and then to another boy, pointing a wooden stick at them as if debating which one to throw the stick at.

He remembered a flash of green light and then waking up to find a black-haired man and red-haired woman gazing at him and his brother with relief. Takao remembered being hugged by the woman. He distinctly remembered an old man, who stared grimly at him and another little boy, before saying something to the woman.

He remembered a lot of things about that night if you asked him but Takao had no idea who those people were.

"Big brother, okay?" Katsu asked, snapping him out of his thought. "Was bad dream really bad?"

Takao shook his head. "Of course not, little brother. It's a bad dream, bad dreams go away when you wake up or don't you know that Katsu?"

"Sometimes bad dreams don't go away," Katsu answered, flickering his blue eyes at him. "I dreamt you left Katsu and Katsu is scared of that. Big brother won't leave Katsu right?"

Takao shook his head and ruffled the boy's dark hair. "Nothing in the world would make me leave Katsu. It's my job as your big brother to protect you Katsu! I'm always going to be there for you?"

"Promise?"

"I promise Katsu," Takao answered, not noticing his mother's soft smile. "I'll keep that promise if that is the last thing I do."

 _One day you would have to leave Katsu,_ a small voice whispered in his mind as his baby brother stared at him. _Uncle Itachi died and left your father alone, despite the fact that they were close. Who is to say you won't leave Katsu too? Who is to say you won't abandon him like your biological parents did? Don't you want to know why they abandon you to those awful people?_

 _My biological parents are dead,_ Takao snarled as he tightened his grip on his father's hand. _Aunt Petunia said so and while I hate her, I can't deny what she said is true. Why would my real parents abandon me to people who hate me? They can't do that to me if they were alive. That isn't how family works._

 _Not everyone is as good as our adopted parents,_ the voice answered silky. _Despite what you think, you know as well as I do that no one could ever compare to them, to Mum because no one understands loneliness like she does._

The sad thing was that Takao knew the voice was right. No one could ever compare to his mother because Takao knew from the whispers in the village that his mother forgave everyone who treated her badly even when they didn't deserve it. No one was like that except for his mother. Sometimes, Takao wondered how she could do it.

He might be six but Takao knew how hard it was to forgive people.

"Takao."

Was he in trouble? Takao wondered as his mother stopped walking and fixed her blue eyes at him while everyone else passed him. His father frowned and raised his eyebrows but his mother waved him off and gestured for his father and Katsu to go ahead without them, signalling that she wanted to have a private talk with him. For the first time in his life, he could see the seriousness and weariness in his mother's eyes, showing him the shinobi that his mother was. He always saw her as the fun parent, as the mother but he always forgot that just like his father, his mother was a shinobi.

"Once you get through those gates and hear Kakashi-sensei's speech, your life as a shinobi will begin," His mother said, kneeling down and staring right into his eyes. "You're going to meet a whole range of people, who will either pretend to be your friends or say bad things because certain people don't like our family. You might start to hate them, you might even get into fights with them or heck you might prank them but, Takao don't let them think that their words affect you. If anything else, avoid fighting them."

"You want me to stand there and let them talk about me?" Takao asked, staring wide-eyed at his mother.

"No but I don't want you to get into fights that could have easily been avoided," His mother answered. "I don't want you to make any enemies in school because one day, the classmate you argued with might just be your teammate. Teamwork is important Taka and I don't want your teamwork to be affected because someone talked bad things about us."

"Mum…"

"If you want payback then do it in a way that no one could truly trace it back to you," she smiled. "Give them a smile and talk nicely to them because the best form of revenge is showing them that their words don't really affect you. It'll frustrate them because nothing they could do can affect you, pretend that you know their secrets because if you do then they'll fear you."

"Did you do that in school?"

"Me? Never," his mother smiled wickedly. "I pretended to be dumb so that no one could take me seriously, which allowed me to learn a lot of things about my classmates, things that I could use against them if I really wanted."

"Mum?"

"Yes, Kiddo."

"Did anyone tell you that you were scary?"

"Me? I'm just the goofball," His mother declared, stuffing her hands into her pockets. "Though I'm a goofball that knows how to play her cards right to get the things I want. Y'know it's never a bad idea to have a mask on, Taka but make sure that the mask doesn't truly become a part of you...you might just regret it."

"Did being a fool become a part of you?"

"Eventually it did," his mother admitted. "I kept pretending to be something I wasn't that eventually I became that person because it was easier that way. People do things, things they don't want to do because that is the only way to make friends. Taka, don't do that. You can have a mask to hide your emotions but don't ever let that mask become a part of you."

"Yes, Mum."

It was left unsaid but Takao knew that his mother regretted playing an idiot in school and letting it become a part of who she left. Though Takao wasn't going to make the same mistakes as his mother. He would play nice and keep his emotions in check just like his mother told him, but he was never going to put on a fake smile or play dumb.

Takao wasn't going to dumb down his intelligence for anyone's sake or be the dead-last. No, he was going to reach the top without showcasing his true skills that would be the way a true ninja would go about.

After all, a shinobi greatest skill was his skill in deception wasn't it?

It was a skill that Takao was planning to master because Takao was going to become the best ninja even if it killed him.

* * *

Three years, Professor Dumbledore thought as he rubbed his temple, it had been three years since Harry Potter's disappearance and Dumbledore was no closer to finding him then he was three years ago. What caused the boy to disappear? He couldn't help but question as he gazed down at the papers in his table. Arabella had no idea on where the boy had run off too, saying that Lily's sister didn't like talking about it but that might be due to guilt because the boy was her nephew.

Still, where on Earth could the boy run off too? Did someone kidnap the boy? Did one of Voldemort supporters found where the brother of the boy-who-lived live? No, no one knew that Samuel had a brother except for the Potter themselves and their closest friends. It was the least he could do to make sure that young Harry was safe. He rubbed his bearded chin at this thought.

He grimaced. Perhaps, he should have had someone kept an eye on the little boy to make sure he was safe after all, it would be a disaster if the heir of the House of Potter was missing. He frowned. Then again, they couldn't be certain if Harry was going to become Lord Potter. The night Voldemort attack had seen most of the boy's magical core depleted, making him essentially a squib. A squib could not become the heir of a noble house as far as the law goes but that law might need to change if it turned out that Samuel died from his future battle with Voldemort.

Things weren't going to be easy especially once James and Lily started to ask about their oldest son. It had been a miracle that the last five years that the parents hadn't once asked or demanded that they go see their eldest son, which was odd as they had been quite reluctant to let the boy go. Professor Dumbledore sighed. Then again, those two wanted to spend as much time preparing Samuel for his future against Voldemort.

It was a terrible thing once a parent had the fear that their child might die before them but, Professor Dumbledore wondered if perhaps by not asking about their other child that it might start to build resentment for Harry. The boy was going to find out his parents were alive eventually and Professor Dumbledore knew no matter how kind a child was that knowing their parents left them would cause an emotional scar that could never heal. If Harry Potter turned out to still be a wizard, which was highly unlikely since his magical core was depleted since the last time he checked him, then Professor Dumbledore knew they would be a lot of questions to be answered, especially for the boy.

He had no idea what Lily's sister had told the boy or if the boy even remembers it but Dumbledore had a feeling that when Harry was reunited with his family that things were going to go downhill. He just hoped that the boy was willing to understand the choices made by his parents.

It hadn't been easy for Lily and James to send their child to the Muggle world to be raised.

* * *

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think. Here's a random question to ask, which house do you think members of Team Seven would have been sorted in if they have went to Hogwarts? Also, what house do you think Takao should be in? And is Professor Dumbledore out of character to you?


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed as well as to everyone who added this story to their favourites.

* * *

Iruka smiled as he watched his newest students file into his classroom. This would be his last class of kids before he decides to try to get a promotion, he mused to himself, as one by one his newest students took their seats. He smiled wider when he caught sight of a messy black-haired boy with bright green eyes taking a seat in the middle row beside a red-haired boy.

Looking at Takao, Iruka couldn't help but muse about how long it had been since Naru and Sasuke came back from their journey with the little boy. He could still remember how shy the boy was, how he clung to Naru and didn't even want to look at him. He remembered being furious with Sasuke for getting the red-haired girl pregnant and not marrying her as soon as he found out. If the little boy hadn't been there, Iruka would have tried to murder Sasuke for his actions.

"Iruka, isn't that Uzumaki-sama's son?" His assistant whispered, flickering her eyes at the black-haired boy's forehead, where the lightning bolt could be clearly seen. "Do you think he's going to be as good as his Mum? I bet he'll become a shinobi before he turns twelve, any child of Uzumaki-sama is going to be a genius."

 _Takao wasn't just Naru's kid, he was also Sasuke's kid too_ , Iruka thought, gazing at Takao. The little boy blinked his eyes before giving him a huge smile. The resemblance between Naru and Takao wasn't there but Iruka could see some aspects of Naru in the little boy. He could see Naru's smile whenever the boy smiled. Although Iruka could see the boy's distrust whenever he was with strangers. That was something Naru never had when she was six.

He watched carefully as a red-haired boy poked Takao on the shoulder. Iruka watched with bated breath as Takao twisted his body around and gazed at the red-haired boy, who smiled widely at Takao. What was Takao going to do? Iruka knew from the number of times that Naru barged into his apartment to cry about her son that the boy found it hard to trust kids his age. Not that Iruka could blame him because so many kids wanted to be Takao's friend because of his mother or hated him because of his father.

"Shouldn't we start, Iruka?" His assistant asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Oh right, they had a class to start.

"Hello everyone," Iruka started, drawing everyone's attention to him. "My name is Umino Iruka, the lady beside me is my assistant Ito Ayaka. To start things off, I would like all of you to introduce yourself to the whole class. This will be done in alphabetical order."

"Iruka-sensei, can you show us how it's done?" One of the kids called out, staring wide-eyed at him.

Iruka sighed and nodded his head at his students. "Yes, that isn't a problem. My name is Umino Iruka, I like to teach and I don't like people who give up before they even try it. My dream? My dream is to see every single person in this room become good shinobi."

"Guess, it's my turn," Ayaka declared, giving them a smile. "My name is Ito Ayaka. I like taking long walks on the beach," Iruka narrowed his eyes at the woman, who grinned cheekily at him. "I like watching movies so much that if you gave me a line from a movie then I could probably name you the movie. Hmm, I dislike cheaters and I absolutely hate going grocery shopping. I also dislike…"

"Ayaka, tell them your dream!"

The woman pouted and nodded her head. "Calm down Iruka. Right, my dream is to become a powerful jounin."

"Then why are you an assistant?" One of the children called out, tilting his head.

"Because I like the idea of teaching little kids," Ayaka declared, causing Iruka to rub his temple. Why oh why did they have to give this woman for him to deal with? He glanced at his students, who just stared at Ayaka as if she was a weird person for saying this, before glancing at the woman, who still had a smile on her face.

Shaking his head, Iruka pulled out a scroll from the drawer and stared at all of his students, who glanced at each other and then to the scroll in his hand.

"Since we're done with our introduction, we can start with everyone in the class," Iruka informed them, causing all of the students to sit up straight. "First off, Abrume."

A little boy with dark hair stood up, pushing his sunglasses up before beginning his introduction. As the little boy talked about his likes and dislikes, Iruka gazed at all of his new students. Nearly half of the kids in his class were from one of the major ninja clans while the other half of the kids were from civilian families, which was slightly higher than he expected. The number of civilians entering the shinobi world was becoming fewer in the past few years but this might be the year it showed an increase.

"Akimichi," Ayaka called out and Iruka watched as a chubby little boy stood up, standing so proudly as he declared his name for everyone to hear. The little boy must be Choji's cousin, Iruka thought, noticing how similar the boy's hair colour and facial features were to the current Akimichi head. Wasn't it nearly twenty years ago when he had the boy here sitting on the same chair ? He smiled softly as he remembered how Choji had stood up with all of the nervousness that a child had.

He shook his head and continued to survey the room. Iruka sighed and rubbed his temple when he realized that there were a couple of girls gazing at Takao, who kept his eyes fixed on the Akimichi as he talked about his dream. Why did he have to have fangirls in his class every year? He wondered, crossing his arms. Did he need to have a talk with them? He could have one of the senior kunoichi talk to them, or maybe he could have Naru talk to them.

If they wanted to survive in this world then they needed to know that this wasn't the place to gaze at Takao.

"Uzumaki," Ayaka said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Iruka blinked his eyes and watched as Takao slowly stood up, pushing his glasses to the bridge of his nose while everyone else just stared and whispered to each other. Iruka nearly sighed when he caught sight of the girls sitting up straight, staring wide-eyed and flushing red as they waited for Takao to introduce himself.

"My name is Uzumaki Takao but you can call me Taka," Takao said, smiling. "I like reading, training and spending time with my little brother. I dislike people who treat their family badly or who abandon them, I also don't like people who don't take their training seriously. I dislike people who are dishonest. My dream is to become a captain of one of the squads in ANBU."

"ANBU? What's that?" One of the kids whispered, staring at Takao.

ANBU? That was a different path from his mother, Iruka thought, staring at the boy's emerald eyes. The boy wanted to work from the shadows, wanted no one to know who he was but most of all, the boy wanted to take dangerous missions. He didn't know whether to be proud of the boy's ambition or be terrified of what that meant for him. No one who got in ANBU ever came out the same. Kakashi was a prime example of what happened to people who joined ANBU.

He didn't want that for the little boy especially when Iruka knew it would hurt Naru if the boy became scarred from his life choice.

"Yamura."

Iruka shook his head and watched as the black-haired boy took his seat and stared at the strawberry-haired girl who now stood up. This generation of shinobi was going to be interesting, Iruka finally decided, gazing at Takao and then to the red-haired boy beside him. Something told him that he would need to keep an eye on Naru's son.

* * *

"Hey Taka, do ya want to play ninja with us?"

Takao blinked his eyes and stared at the smiling red-haired boy, who if he wasn't mistaken was called Ryota. Behind the boy were several other boys, who all stared at him with such wide, hopeful eyes. Did he want to play ninja with them? He wouldn't mind playing games with them but did they want to play with him because they wanted to? Or was it because they wanted to get to know his parents? He gazed at the red-haired boy, noticing the warmness and sincerity in his eyes before glancing at the others.

"It doesn't seem like he wants to play with us, Ryota," One of the boys called out, crossing his arms. "Uzumaki thinks he's just too good for us since his mum is the hero of the village."

Ryota twisted his head around and stared at the other boys. "Taka haven't said anything yet so don't say anything you don't know anything about."

He seems nice, Takao thought, fixing his eyes at the smiling red-haired boy. The smile on his face and the genuine warmth in his eyes almost made him want to play with him and the others but Takao knew some smiles hide the true nature of people. It might have been four years since he came to this village but, he could never forget the creepy smile his uncle would give him whenever he messed something up.

 _There are people out there who will pretend to be your friends and the only way you'll know if you try to play them,_ his mother's words echoed in his mind as he gazed at the red-haired boy who still had a smile on his face. Takao knew he wouldn't know the truth until he starts to get to know people. He needed to get to know a person before finding ways to see if they were his honest friends.

"Okay."

The red-haired boy smiled broadly at his words and before Takao could even blink his eyes, the red-haired boy grabbed hold of his hand and started to drag him towards the playground with the other boys right behind them.

"Y'know you sound so cool when you told everyone you want to become a part of ANBU," the red-haired boy declared, smiling widely at him. "I don't know what the hell it is but it sounds kind of awesome."

That's because ANBU was awesome, Takao thought, gazing at the smiling red-head and the other boys. They did dangerous jobs in order to protect the people of this village and no one really knows who they are except for the Hokage. He wanted that. He wanted no one to know he was one of the people silently protecting their village but most of all, Takao wanted to be one of the strongest shinobi this village had ever seen.

Being a part of ANBU would allow him to have that.

"Hey aren't we going to play ninja?" One of the boys asked, crossing his arms. "Break is going to end soon and then we'll have to go back to Iruka-sensei."

Ryota shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head. "Dibs on not being the bad ninja."

Almost all of the boys groaned at hearing this before glancing at each other and then at Takao. Takao tilted his head and stared at them, noticing the lack of enthusiasm that they have on the idea of being the enemy ninja. What was wrong with being the enemy ninja? They might have people chasing after them but Takao liked the idea of having these people chase him.

"I'll be the bad ninja," Takao declared.

All the boys blinked their eyes. "Are you sure? If you don't want to be the bad ninja then we can have someone else do it."

"I don't mind," Takao said, running his hand through his messy hair. They blinked their eyes at him, tilting their heads at him before giving him a smile. Grinning, the boys started to tell him the parameters, telling him that he was not allowed to run to the fields or to the classrooms, where the teachers were probably doing some work to prepare for the next set of lessons.

Once the rules were finally explained, Takao wasted no time in running out of their way and weaved his way around the running crowd of kids. He smiled apologetically as he bumped into a couple of kids, who all looked at him in either annoyance or with another funny expression. He could hear yells of the other boys telling him not to run that fast while he could hear the cheers of the other kids.

 _Mum, why did you give me a nickname that means falcon?_ He could distantly remember asking his mother this question a couple of months ago. His mother smiled at him, ruffled his hair and told him because he was going to have the freedom that she didn't have. His father snorted and said that wasn't why he called him Taka, it was because he wanted him to be independent, to make his own choices when he was old enough.

If you asked Takao, he preferred being called Taka because of the fact that falcon was fast and struck quickly, something Takao wanted to be.

"Kami, you're fast!" One of the boys yelled out, panting. "What the hell do you do to run this fast? Are you sure you're human?"

Takao twisted his head around and gave them a cheeky smile before sliding underneath the ring of roses that the girls had made themselves into. The girls squealed and squeaked while the boys chasing him, stopped running and stared at him as if he was insane for him to do this.

"Uzumaki!" One of the girls yelled. "You ruined our game!"

He smiled apologetically at the girl. "Sorry, I'll make it up to you."

The girl opened her mouth to argue with him but Takao just gave her a smile before rushing out of her way. He needed to last the whole break time before he could be declared the winner. In the corner of his eyes, Takao could see Ryota rushing towards him. Glancing around, Taka tried to find a way to avoid the red-head. He noticed a pair of bushes that he could hide in but Takao doubt that was good enough place for him to hide.

He was fast but Takao wasn't that fast. He could be faster if he used the technique his father taught but he wasn't going to use it.

Damn it, he didn't want to get caught just yet but if this continues then he was going to get caught and the game was over.

 _Pop._

"Takao! Where are you?" Ryota yelled, causing Takao to blink his eyes. "How did you just disappear like that? I know we're training to be ninjas but you can't disappear like that without any warning! It isn't fair."

Disappear? Takao blinked his eyes and finally took notice that he was standing on top of the school rooftop. What the hell just happened? He looked down, seeing the smiling faces of the kids, before glancing around to find a familiar red-haired boy frowning and running around the playground to find him. What just happened? While he didn't want to get caught, he didn't want to be on top of the school roof.

If his parents found out what happened, they were going to demand answers from him or try to find out how it happened.

In the case of his mother, she was going to worry about it while his father would try to find out what happened.

"I'm here, Ryota!" Takao yelled, drawing everyone's attention to him.

All of the kids stopped playing, looked up and stared wide-eyed at him before turning to their neighbours, whispering to each other what just happened. Ryota just blinked his eyes, looked at the spot where Takao had been before gazing at him with wide eyes. He smiled sheepishly at the boy but his smile faded when Iruka-sensei came out, looked up at the roof and stared at him with a resigned look.

From the twitch in his sensei's mouth, Takao had no doubt he was going to get yelled at.

"Uzumaki Takao, get down here!" Iruka-sensei yelled, putting his hands on his hips. "Young man, how did you climb onto the school roof? No, wait, don't answer that because I know without a doubt, Naru would have taught you how to do that."

His mother taught him how to access his chakra and meditation but his father was the one teaching him how to climb the roofs using chakra, Takao thought, slowly making his way towards the corner of the roof. Jumping down to the ground, he bowed his head at his sensei while everyone else just gaped at what he did.

"I'm going to tell your parents about this, Takao," Iruka said to him, gazing at the roof in wonder. "I don't mind you being active and playing with kids but the rooftop isn't a place to play."

"Well if we're being technical Iruka-sensei, you never told us that we can't play in the rooftops," Ryota said, drawing their sensei's attention away from him. "We never told him not to go there! Though I wish we did because it wasn't fair that he did that! I mean it was cool he just suddenly disappeared in thin air but it wasn't fair."

Iruka-sensei rubbed his temple. "No one just suddenly disappeared in thin air, Ryota. There is techniques which make it seem like the users just disappeared in thin air and those are advanced techniques that you guys aren't ready to learn just yet."

"But Takao really disappeared into thin air!" Ryota declared, crossing his arms. "It was like...it was like...magic! That's it! Takao disappeared like one of those magicians in those stories books we get from the world outside."

Magic?

Takao was willing to believe in a lot of things but he didn't disappear because of magic. Magic didn't exist. No, there was a more reasonable explanation on what just happened just now. He was going to find out how he did it because if Takao could control it then maybe just maybe, he would become an even better ninja then his parents.

* * *

"You're telling me that Takao, my six-year-old son, appeared in the rooftops without any explanation?" His mother asked his sensei during dinner. Takao poked his ramen while his father raised his eyebrows at him, looking at Iruka-sensei with interest. Katsu just blinked his eyes and slurped his soup, making a big mess in his seat.

"Yes, Naru," Iruka-sensei said, rubbing his temple. "I don't know how Takao did it without any warning but he just appeared on top of the rooftops."

"I don't know how I did it, Iruka-sensei," Takao said, drawing their attention to him. "Ryota was getting close to me when I suddenly appeared right on top of the rooftops."

"And you didn't use any jutsu, Taka?" His father asked, staring at him.

His mother straightened her back and stared at him while Iruka-sensei stared at him, gazing at him with curiosity as he waited for his answer. They weren't looking at him as if he was a freak but the wide eyes told Takao more about his parents' thoughts on his action.

"I didn't use any jutsu," He answered, staring right into his mother's eyes.

His mother rubbed her temple and pursed her lips before glancing at Iruka-sensei and then to his father, who had a blank expression on his face. What was his father thinking? Takao wondered, staring at his father's dark eyes. Did his father believe him? No, his father should believe him because Takao didn't know any jutsu that would allow him to do what he did in school.

His father sighed. "Perhaps there is another explanation for what happened in the roof, Iruka. Takao is a talented boy but even he can't do a jutsu like this and even if he did, he would have known better than to be on the top of the school's roof right?"

Takao furiously nodded his head and glanced at his mother, who pursed her lips and furrowed her eyebrows at him. _Oh no, she was starting to think,_ Takao thought, fixing his eyes on his little brother, who was furrowing his eyebrows at him. When his mother started to think then it meant two things for his family. Either his mother was going to bug him and ask him how he did it or his mother would try to find a way to protect him and stop him from doing something like this again.

"It was an accident," Takao said softly, staring at his teacher. "I really didn't mean to be on top of the roof."

His mother sighed and shook her head. "We know Takao but what you did wasn't something that we ever heard before. Maybe, this talent of yours might be just a new Kekkai Genkai. After all, Kekkai Genkais come from a mutation in the DNA."

 _It could be a Kekkai Genkai that I inherited from my biological parents,_ Takao thought, staring at his mother and father, who kept glancing at each other. He had no idea what his biological parents were like or what their jobs were but Takao knew that they had been strange. Aunt Petunia used to call them freaks. He quietly snorted as he remembered how the woman would call him freak too.

"That would make sense," Iruka-sensei said, nodding his head. "But if that's the case then you need Takao on how to control it because that Kekkai Genkai of his could cause him trouble if he doesn't learn to control it."

His mother nodded her head in agreement before fixing her eyes on him. Takao wondered what was going through his mother's mind right now. He glanced at his baby brother, who smiled brightly at him, and then to his father, who kept rubbing his chin. Did they think he was freak for being able to do what he could do? This was the first time in his life that he did something like this.

Was he a freak like his aunt said he was?

Takao clenched his hands into a fist. He wasn't a freak. This might be a Kekkai Genkai that he inherited from his biological parents. He couldn't be the only one with this power. He took a sip of his apple juice before glancing at his little brother, who stared at everyone in confusion. This power of his was normal, he told himself as his parents changed the discussion to the new laws that the Hokage put.

He was a normal kid.

"Aniki, okay?" Katsu asked, snapping him from his train of thought.

Takao blinked his eyes and stared at the concern eyes of his little brother. Smiling, Takao nodded his head before glancing at his small hands. Was this Kekkai Genkai dangerous? He wondered, taking a bite of his noodles. True, his Kekkai Genkai made him appear in the roof but was that all it could do? His father's sharingan could copy jutsu and make genjutsu. What was to say that his Kekkai Genkai only allowed him to appear? Maybe, it had more potential than this.

He needed to find a way to activate it and use it to his advantage. Appearing and disappearing was good for making transport easier but, does it require a lot of chakra? He closed his eyes and thought back about his actions.

When Takao thought about it, he didn't remember using chakra to activate it.

Did he need to use chakra to activate it? Or did he need something else to activate it? Takao wondered, taking another bite of his food. He curled his lips. Maybe, he should ask Kakashi-ojiisan about it. The sixth Hokage was a very knowledge person, maybe he knew if there was another source of power other than chakra.

He didn't want to cause problems to his family and Takao certainly didn't want to hurt his family, especially his little brother.

* * *

"Y'know if I wasn't worried about the fact that he appeared on the roof without knowing how he did it, I would be congratulating Takao for doing something as awesome as that," Naru whispered to her husband as the two of them cleaned up the dishes. Sasuke sighed, shook his head at her before glancing at their family photo.

"We need to teach Takao how to control it," Sasuke said. "That Kekkai Genkai of his could lead him to land in places that no child should be in. He might end up being in the wrong place at the wrong time which could lead him to die."

Naru sighed at this. "I know Sasuke but how can we teach him how to control it? We have never ever seen a Kekkai Genkai like this before. If we knew where to go to help him then I will have no problem of him being trained how to use it."

"I could always go to England and find his relatives," Sasuke said, staring at Takao and Katsu. "We can't let him have this power run wild."

"Don't go to his relatives," Naru hissed, running her hand through her red hair. "I'm up for anything but that. Do you forget how horrible Takao-kun's relatives are?"

Sasuke rubbed his temple. "I don't think I can ever forget the fact that they called our son a freak but they may be the only ones who have some idea on what is happening to Takao."

"Can't you ask some of your contacts in Japan about this?" Naru asked, staring at her husband's dark eyes. "They might know something about Takao's Kekkai Genkai. I mean didn't you make friends with some weirdo that changes his hair colour every single day? Maybe, he might have some idea about this."

"That weirdo likes changing his hair colour to suit his mood," Sasuke answered, rolling his eyes. "And I doubt Kenji will tell me anything about Takao's Kekkai Genkai because I doubt it is similar to his Kekkai Genkai. Also while the man may have connections with the Japanese government, it doesn't mean he knows everything."

"If he doesn't know everything then how the hell did he know who the hell we are? Or where we came from?" Naru asked, crossing her arms. "Even you have to admit that the man is fishy. Remember how he made sure we avoided certain streets, saying that they were dangerous? What on earth could be dangerous to us?"

"Well, you weren't exactly subtle in hiding your awe from everyone were you?" Sasuke asked, running his hand through his hair. "I think that might have been a major clue on how he figured out we weren't from Japan. Also, remember that Kenji works in a division of the government that keeps an eye on people moving in and out of the country so, of course, he would know where we were from and who we were."

"And the streets?"

"I can't think of any reason for the streets," Sasuke answered, placing his hands on the edge of the sink. "Look, we need to keep an eye on Takao. If the same thing happens again or god forbid he does something even more dangerous then I'll contact Kenji and if he won't tell me anything, I'll see Takao's Aunt."

"The woman doesn't even deserve to be called his aunt," Naru muttered, staring at her eldest son. Takao had a large smile on his face as he tickled his little brother and the red-haired woman couldn't help but feel her heart clenched in pain. If Sasuke went to his aunt then Naru wanted to go with him. If not to yell at the woman for causing pain to her son then to make her apologize to Takao. "Going to his aunt has to be the last resort Sasuke. I don't want us to be anywhere near that awful woman."

"Who says you're going with me? And you do realize that you're in no condition to travel?" Sasuke asked, eyeing her stomach. "And who is going to take care of Taka and Katsu if you come with me?"

"Are you seriously asking this? Do you think I'm going to let you deal with the woman who made our son's life hell by yourself?" Naru asked, clenching her hands into a fist. "And I'm pregnant, not sick! I can take care of myself damn fine! I need to see that woman and yell at her for giving Takao so much pain. What kind of person treats a kid like that? It isn't right."

Sasuke wrapped his arms around her and stared down at her. "I'm telling you not to go because I know you're going to murder the woman before I can even ask any questions. As much as I want to hurt her for hurting Takao, I don't want to do it right now. She might be the only link we might have to figure out the powers that Takao has."

"She called Takao a freak," Naru hissed, clenching her hands against her husband's shirt. "Do you remember how many times we've to tell Takao that he isn't a freak? That he is Takao, a little boy that has rights? It took us nearly three months to break him out of that habit. Sometimes, I wonder what would happen if we hadn't taken him away from the woman. Would he grow to hate everything around him? Would he have been beaten? I've so many nightmares on what would have happened to Takao if I hadn't taken him in."

"You shouldn't think of the what if, Naru," Sasuke said softly, running his hand against her red-hair. "He'll never have the life that you thought he would have with his aunt. Takao is a happy boy, who loves playing games and taking care of his little brother. Takao isn't the little boy you found anymore. The little boy you found never knew the love of a parent but you showed him this. Takao could never hate the world because I know we'll make sure he'll never know how to hate it."

"I don't want any of our kids to know what it is like to hate," Naru admitted, pushing herself away from Sasuke. She rubbed her stomach, stared at their two sons and continued. "I want them to see the bright side of everything. I know Takao doesn't always see the bright side. I knew it from the fact he admitted he didn't have much trust with his new classmates but you know what? I know he'll find someone who he can trust to keep his secrets. He'll find the one person who he can count to have his back. It might not be today but Takao will find someone that he can trust without a doubt."

"And Katsu?"

"Katsu is two-years-old, Sasuke," Naru answered, smiling widely. "Our little boy has two more years before I start worrying about him not trusting the world. Katsu will never ever experience the pain that Takao had gone through but I know that boy of ours will never let his older brother leave him without a fight."

"That son of ours is too possessive of his brother," Sasuke said, gazing at their youngest son. "I think Takao will have a hard time telling Katsu that he can't go on missions with him when he gets older."

"I think he'll have a hard time trying to pull Katsu from his leg," Sasuke nodded his head in agreement, "If we hadn't been able to convince our son to let go of his leg after the speech, we wouldn't have heard the end of Katsu's crying."

"I wonder who he gets the crying from," Sasuke muttered.

"Obviously from you."

"Since when did I cry?"

"I bet you cried when your brother left for the Academy."

"I'll have you know that I wasn't that bad."

"If Itachi was alive, I would ask him if you were that bad," Naru said, grinning widely.

Sasuke snorted and shook his head but Naru could see a little smile forming on his face. It was good to see that Sasuke was now starting to smile whenever his brother was mentioned. She knew very well that it would be a long time before her husband could fully recover from the loss of his brother.

If their next child was a boy then Naru wanted to name their son Itachi.

If it was a girl then she was going to name her daughter after her mother.

* * *

"Aniki, story!"

Takao blinked his eyes and stared at his little brother, who clapped his hands together and stared at him with hopeful eyes. Why was Katsu suddenly asking for a story now? His little brother never ever asked him for a story. He usually asked their mother or father for a story but, for some strange reason Katsu wanted to hear a story.

Letting out a sigh, Takao nodded his head and gestured for his little brother to take a seat beside him. Katsu smiled widely, crawled right beside him before placing his small head on his lap. What story should he tell his baby brother? Did he tell him the story that their mother and father told him? No, it wasn't the right kind of story for Katsu and Takao couldn't give the same kind of feeling their parents give.

"Aniki, story?"

"Did Mama ever tell you the story of the sad little boy?" Takao asked, staring at his little brother. Katsu shook his head and stared wide-eyed at him. "Once upon a time, in a land far, far, away, there lived a little boy called Freak."

"Aniki, Katsu doesn't like the name Freak," Katsu said, frowning. "Freak is mean name."

Takao smiled and ruffled his little brother's hair. "What do you think I should call the little boy, Katsu?"

"Atsuko."

"Alright Atsuko," Takao took a deep breath. "Atsuko lived happily with his family, playing with his little brother and parents but that all changed in just a matter of one night. One night when Atsuko was playing with his little brother...a very bad man came to his house and killed Atsuko's family, making him an orphan."

"Orphan?"

"It means there's no Kaa-chan or Tou-san."

"Why?"

 _I don't know Katsu, I don't know why that man came to our home,_ Takao thought, running his hand through his little brother's messy hair. _I don't even know if my biological parents are alive or if that boy in my dreams is my little brother. If they were alive then why did they send me to Aunt Petunia? Why didn't they raise me? Do they even think of me? Do they know that I'm alive? Do they even know I exist?_

"Because he doesn't like seeing Atsuko being happy," Takao answered as he tickled his little brother. Takao smiled widely as Katsu let out a small giggle. "So back to the story Katsu. The only person to survive the attack was Atsuko and because he had no parents, Atsuko was sent to live with his Aunt and Uncle."

"Is that the end?"

"No," Takao said softly, staring at the recent family photo that their mother forced them to have. "Atsuko's Aunt and Uncle took Atsuko in but instead of giving him love, they called him names and made him do work in the house while they played with their own son. Instead of calling Atsuko by his name, they called him bad names and made him think that those bad names were his real name."

"Why they don't like Atsuko?" Katsu asked, frowning. "Atsuko is good."

Takao swallowed a lump and smiled widely at his little brother. "Because Atsuko was different and they don't like different."

"Different is good isn't it?"

"It's very good Katsu," Takao said softly, poking his little brother on the forehead. "But Atsuko's Aunt and Uncle didn't see it like that. They treated him badly until one day, they suddenly decided to take Atsuko to the playground to play. On that day, Atsuko met his fairy godmother called Yuuki. You see Yuuki saw that Atsuko was sad and lonely. Yuuki saw that Atsuko Aunt and Uncle treated him badly and decided to help him."

"How did Yuuki help Atsuko?"

"Yuuki decided to take Atsuko away from his Aunt and Uncle," Takao said, staring at the photo of their mother. "She took Atsuko to another far away land and decided to raise Atsuko as her son. She raised him, played with him and gave him a new family that he loved and adored. When Atsuko was old enough, he thanked his fairy godmother and declared to her that she was the best person in the world."

"The End?"

"Yup."

 _It wasn't really the end,_ Takao thought, looking up at the ceiling. He didn't know what was going to happen to the future but he did know that he would do everything in his power to protect his family. He would walk through fire to protect them because he knew that his family was worth protecting for.

He never wanted to lose his family ever again.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review and tell me what you think especially about the relationship between Harry and Katsu.**


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I would like to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter as well as everyone who added this story to their favourites and follows.

* * *

"What are you reading, my dear little Taka?"

Takao tore his attention away from his new book and turned his attention towards his mother, who took a seat beside him. His beautiful mother had a small smile playing on her lips, telling him just how happy she was to have him by her side. He flickered his eyes towards Katsu, who was making a tower from the toy blocks that their father had brought for them from one of his trips. He then glanced at his father, who was flipping through the newspaper.

"The Tale of Gutsy Ninja," Takao answered, holding the book up for his mother to see. "I found it in the library the other day and Ryo-kun suggested that I should read it. He said the book was about a cool ninja so I decided to go ahead and read it."

His mother blinked her eyes and nodded her head but Takao could see tears forming in his mother's eyes. Normally, he would try to apologize to her however his mum kept crying for the silliest of things now. Even sending him to the Academy was enough to make her mother wail and tell him how she wasn't ready for him to go to school. His father told him that it was going to become normal for his mother but Takao didn't want it to be normal. He prefered having his mother be herself and not cry for every single thing he or Katsu did.

"Y'know my godfather wrote that novel," his mother whispered, running her hand through his hair. "My parents were going to name me after the main character but once they find out that I was going to be a girl...well they changed their mind. They still wanted me to be like the main character so they decided to shorten the character's name to give me, my name."

He hadn't known his mother was named after this character or the fact Jiraiya had written this book. None of his parents liked talking about their life before them, always preferring to tell them stories about the adventures they had before they came back to Konoha. The things he knew about his parents were things he heard from Aunt Sakura and Aunt Hinata; sometimes the occasional villager would tell him tales about his parents. Other then this, he didn't know much about his parents' past.

"What was Jiraiya like?" Takao looked up at his mother with wide green eyes. "Tsunade-baachan doesn't really talk about her old teammate except to tell me that I shouldn't end up a pervert. What is a pervert, Mum? I sometimes hear Aunt Sakura yelling those words to her patients whenever one of them try to grab her butt."

"This is a question that you ask your father and not me, Taka-kun," her mother declared, holding her hands up. The twinkle in his mother's sapphire blue eyes and the bright smile told him that she wasn't really embarrassed about his question. If anything his mum just wanted to see his father's reaction as he tried to explain the strange word to him. He glanced at his father, who rubbed the back of his neck and thinned his lips till it formed a thin line.

"I will explain it to you when you are older," his father promised him, placing his newspaper on the table.

"How old must I be when I ask this question again?"

"Eleven," his mother chirped before his father could answer him. Takao raised his eyebrow and folded his arms against his chest while the older woman just smiled at him. The raven-haired boy glanced at his father, who just let out a sigh of relief and nodded his head in agreement with his mother. Of course, his father would agree. He was saved from the trouble of answering his question for another five more years.

Well he could always go look at the dictionary to find out what the word meant or he could always ask Ryota's older brother about what the word meant, Takao reasoned to himself as he walked towards Katsu. His younger brother grinned, revealing all his tiny teeth at him, before tapping to the seat beside him. Smiling widely, Takao sat beside his brother. He placed his head on the table and watched as Katsu tried to build a tower from the toy blocks that their father brought for him.

Though, the toy blocks were actually meant for him but Katsu had been looking at his blocks with so much longing that he didn't mind his brother playing with them.

"Tall?" Katsu asked, gesturing proudly to the tall leaning tower in front of them.

"Very tall," Takao answered with a smile playing on his lips. "Want me to make it even taller, Katsu?"

The blue-eyed boy beamed, nodded enthusiastically at him before placing the bright green block in his hand. Taking a deep breath, Takao stood on his tiptoe and locked the block on the bright yellow block. For just one small second, Takao found himself staring at a younger version of himself. His younger self was looking at the toy blocks in longing as a fat boy, around his age, play with them. Takao shook his head and stared at his smiling baby brother, who looked at him with so much joy and happiness that it was enough to remind him of where he was.

Dudley was no longer in his life; he was with people that loved him with all their heart.

"Big brother okay?" Katsu whispered. "Big brother sad?"

In the corner of his eye, Takao noticed his mother jerking her head at him. She stared at him with furrowed eyebrows and bit her lips as she waited for him to answer Katsu's question. There was no way he could allow his baby brother to know what he was currently feeling, not when his caring mother was looking at them with concern. No matter what people presumed, Takao did not ever want to see his mother concern about him. For giving him this life, Takao would do everything and anything in his power to make sure she was not worried about him.

"Big brother is fine," Takao answered with a smile on his face. "Big brother was just thinking of how annoying Iruka-sensei's homework is."

Katsu smiled and turned his attention back to the toppling tower while his father placed his hand on his mother's back, and stared at him with eyes that told him he wasn't fooled by him. If Takao had fooled his father with his words then he would consider himself an excellent actor however, it was impossible to trick his father. Sasuke Uchiha was many things but blind was not one of them or so his mother would boast whenever his father caught someone cheating in their usual game of cards.

"Speaking of annoyance, I have some news to tell you," his father declared to them with emotionless eyes. Katsu tilted his head and stared at Sasuke with confusion while his mother twisted her lips into a scowl. Sasuke took in a deep breath. "I am going to be going on a trip for the next couple of weeks and I won't be home until Katsu's birthday."

"What? But why are you going, Dad?" Takao cried, looking down on his feet. "Who is going to train me while you are gone?"

His father's lips twitched and the corner of his lips curled slightly upwards as he looked down at him. "Something has come up with one of my network, Taka. I can't ignore it, no matter, how much I want to. As for who is going to train you while I am gone, the answer is quite simple: Sakura."

"Why can't Mum train me?" Takao inquired, tilting his head at his mother.

His mother grimaced, looked down at her hands before finally swinging her hand at his father, who scowled at her. Something was up, Takao thought to himself, noticing the irritation in his mother's eyes as she stared at his father. The fact Sasuke was rolling his eyes at Naru told him that his father had done something that he believed was right. What on earth did his dad do to make his mum angry with him? Knowing him, it was probably something silly.

"Sweetheart, how would Katsu and you feel about having another little brother or sister to play with?" his mother asked, biting her lips at them as she run her hand through her fiery red-hair.

What on earth did that...

Never mind.

"Mum, if you want to tell me that you are going to give me a new baby brother or sister then I am happy," Takao grinned. "It means that Katsu and me have someone else to play with and annoy the hell out of. Is it going to be a boy or a girl?"

Katsu blinked and blinked his bright blue-eyes at them before smiling goofily at their mother. His baby brother may be young but Takao knew his brother understood what the hell was going on. His cute little brother was probably one of the smartest toddler he knew, not that he knew many. Katsu could speak in full sentences when he wanted to and knew how to read almost all the picture books they had. His father said Katsu was just like him while his mother just rolled her eyes and said Katsu inherited his intelligence from his grandfather.

Takao didn't know who he took after though his mother would like to say he acted slightly like Sasuke when in a bad mood.

He did not know if that was a compliment or not.

"First off, language and second off, your father and I have decided for it to be a surprise."

"You decided for it to be a surprise. I did not," Sasuke corrected, rubbing his forehead. "Anyways, due to your mother's delicate condition, she is not in any shape or form to do any extraneous exercise. So if you see your mother using her clones or god forbid training then stop her," he fixed his black eyes at Katsu and him. "I am not here to take care of your mother so it is your job, Takao and Katsu, to take care of her. Even if your mother threatens you with taking away your books and not teaching you jutsu…"

"I won't do that!"

"Yes, you will," Sasuke and Takao said in unison.

Naru pouted and shook her head at the two of them. "It is when you are like this Sasuke that I really despise being pregnant...that and those contraction. Taking a knife is a lot less painful than giving birth."

"Then you shouldn't have…" his father shook his head and bit his tongue. "Point is Naru, you cannot do anything that costs a lot of chakra or anything that needs a lot of energy. I will know if you used your shadow clones to do the work for you."

For just one second, Takao felt almost sorry for his mother but then remembered that he couldn't use the shadow clones since his chakra levels weren't high enough to perform the jutsu. Perhaps if he could make a hundred copies of himself then maybe, just maybe, Takao could gather an inch of sympathy for his sweet mother. But since he could not make clones of himself do his homework then it was fine for him to say that he didn't feel sorry at all.

Yup, he didn't feel one bit sorry for his mother.

* * *

Sasuke rubbed his chin as he entered his eldest son's room. If Naru wasn't pregnant then he would send his more emotionally available wife to talk to Takao about the truth behind his words. She would be able to give Takao all the hugs and kisses that he deserved. Naru always knew the right words to say while he always find some way to mess things up. It was a miracle Naru agreed to date him even after all the shitty things he put her though. If she had been anyone else, he would have questioned their sanity.

"Taka, is everything alright?" Sasuke asked, swinging his son's door opened before slipping into his son's bedroom. His son looked up from his story book and stared at him with wide green eyes. Placing his story book onto his bedside table, Takao nodded and gestured for him to take a seat beside him. Sasuke curled his lips before taking a seat on his son's bright green bed.

"Everything is fine," Takao answered, thinning his lips. "But you aren't here to ask me about my feelings for my new brother or sister, are you?"

"I don't need to have your mother's gift to know that you are very happy about your new sibling," Sasuke answered, placing his hand on his son's shoulder. "What I do wish to know what happened for you to freeze like that? Your Mum and I have notice that you have been acting less like yourself and it is worrying both your Mum and me."

Takao bit his lips, opened his mouth and then shook his head; no doubt remembering how stupid he would be to lie to him. Sasuke may not have his wife's ability to make people's spill their guts out to him but his son was a very bright boy, who knew lying would do him no good. If his son wanted to feel so much better about himself then it was best for him to speak about what happened today. Sasuke just didn't want to leave his son alone without knowing what was going through his son's head.

"Dad, did you ever dream of people that treated you like you were a monster?" Takao pushed his glasses up and licked his thin lips. "Sometimes when I sleep, I see a lady and a man calling me a Freak. There was also a little boy who would always push me and hit me whenever I try to play with his toys. They never call me Takao or any other name; they always called me Freak. Sometimes, I imagined them looking at me like I am one of Mum's exploding clones; you know the one that Mum times to explode."

If he didn't want to get into trouble with the British Government then Sasuke would have gone to England right that second and murdered Takao's relatives. How the hell was he going to cheer his son up once he knew this? His son's experience with his relatives was very much similar to Naru's treatment by the villagers. Honestly, he didn't know how to explain this to him. When he decided to become a parent with his beautiful stubborn wife, this was not what he signed up for. Why oh why did he had to get Naru pregnant? Oh wait, he couldn't keep it to himself.

"Takao, you aren't a freak," Sasuke told his son as he placed his hand on his son's back. "That lady in your dream is someone that doesn't understand just how special you are. From the moment you were placed into my arms, I knew you were going to be someone great. I admit that incident where you teleported yourself to the roof terrified me," Takao blinked his eyes but Sasuke waved his hand. "However it doesn't make you a freak. If someone treats you like a monster then ignore them. Keep your head held high and do what you want."

"But why do people treat other people like monster?"

"Did your mother ever tell you how she was treated by the villagers?" His wife was going to kill him for telling Takao this but, he hoped the story would be enough for his son to understand. Takao shook his head, earning a sigh from Sasuke. "Your Mum wasn't always seen as a hero by the villagers. In fact at one point, the villagers thought your mother was a demon who didn't have the right to live. Can you guess why they believe that?"

"Is it because of her birthday? Iruka-sensei said that Mum's birthday fell on the same day as the Kyuubi's attack," Takao answered, knitting his eyebrows together. "Did they think Mum was the demon reincarnate?"

"Yes because your grandfather did something to defeat the Kyuubi, something that not many people understand," Sasuke replied, placing his hand on his son's messy black hair. "It is because they didn't understand what he did that your mother was treated like a monster. People fear things they do not understand, Takao and for them to become less afraid, they will try to weaken them in anyway they can. The lady in your dream decided to call you those terrible names because she wanted to make herself less afraid. She wanted power over you and for you to have this fear shows that she is winning."

"What did Mum do?"

"What she did best; she smiled and played the fool," Sasuke answered, shaking his head. "Your Mum held her head up high and put on a smile that fooled a lot of people into thinking that she was fine with the world."

"If they treat her like that then why did she forgive them? Mum told me that her smile was the best form of revenge but, it doesn't explain why she forgave them or why she doesn't try to make their lives hard," Takao said, tilting his head. "Why doesn't she do that?"

 _You asked a question that everyone wants to know the answer to_ , he thought to himself as he pressed his fingers against the sides of his forehead. For as long as Sasuke could remember, his wife had never once given one hint that she wanted to hurt the villagers in the same way they hurt her. When he heard of what Naru did to Pein and the treatment she received, he had been slightly furious. He might not have been in the right mindset but Sasuke knew unreasonable when he saw it. They only saw Naru for who she was when she saved their asses; not when she was being herself.

It was something he could never fully understand.

"The only person who could answer your question is your mother," Sasuke finally answered. "I may have married your mother and loved her for a very long time but it doesn't mean I understand how she thinks. Her mind is one of the few things that confuses the hell out of me."

"I don't think Mum will be happy if she knows you said that."

"That is why we are going to keep it between us."

Takao grinned and nodded his head before picking up the storybook from his bedside table. For just one small second, Sasuke toyed with the idea of telling his son the truth about Naru's past but decided against it. His son may be having a hard time through his memories but he wasn't ready to know everything. No matter how loving this boy could be, he did not want to take the chance that Takao would look at Naru with fear.

It would kill Naru if this happened.

* * *

"You got everything that you need?" Naru asked Sasuke as her husband placed the sealing scrolls into his bag. She wished she could go with her husband to Japan but the bastard had brought in Sakura and Kakashi, who both told her that she was no shape to travel. What was the big deal of her being pregnant? She had a son's relative to destroy. She needed to know what the hell was going on with her son and prepare for the worse case scenario.

"Yes, I have got everything that I need for my journey," Sasuke answered. He blinked his eyes when he caught sight of Katsu toddling towards them with another sealing scroll in his hand. Naru thinned her lips and raised her eyebrow at her husband, who groaned and grabbed the scroll from a smiling Katsu's hand. He ruffled his son's hair. "Now Naru…"

"Don't do a lot of exercise that requires me to use a lot of energy," he opened his mouth and Naru held her hand up. "Make sure that Takao goes to his training and that Sakura doesn't go easy on him. Listen to Kakashi and the others when they tell me that I am doing too much because I always end up doing too much. Am I missing anything else?"

"I think you got everything," Sasuke muttered as he pecked her on the lips. Naru rolled her eyes and glanced at Katsu, who twisted his face into a look of disgust. Of course her cute little son would find it disgusting; Takao made the same expression whenever he caught them making out. At least they hadn't done that in front of their young son. "But I am serious Naru, don't use any shadow clones until Sakura say so."

"You talk like I haven't been pregnant before."

"No, I talk because I know you and how you love to abuse shadow clones," Sasuke corrected. "Besides, think of this as being a break. You can spend your whole time with Katsu and Takao like you always wanted."

"Takao has school and I can't train him because of this condition since I can't take any chance with the baby."

"You can teach him something that doesn't have to do with his ninja training," he informed her. "Just don't push yourself, Naru."

Even though she had already given birth to one kid and raised another one, Sasuke would still act like a mother hen towards her. The man would act like she was still the reckless teenager she had been. Did he really believe she didn't know what to do? Sure, she might have done some insane things but she wouldn't risk the life growing inside of her. Just like she dreamt of being Hokage, Naru dreamt of having the big loving family that she never had.

Though if the child inside of her is a girl with her red hair then Naru would teach her everything she knew about the Uzumaki clan.

"You know Takao would give me a lecture if he sees that I am pushing myself too far," Naru reminded him with a smile on her face. "If that boy could, he would have formed as many shadow clones as he could just so that he could keep an eye on me like you wanted. Now I don't know if he is being overprotective because you asked him to or because he is being himself."

Her husband snorted. "He probably knows that you are going to be your usual self and ignore everything that the doctor tells you. Remember how Sakura told you not to use your Shadow Clones because there is a possibility that it might cause some damage to Katsu's chakra coil system. Until she showed you the evidence, you kept using the shadow clones to do all the housework for you."

"What? You couldn't expect me to leave you to do the housework!" he nodded, earning a laugh from the red-haired girl. "Sasuke, I will let you near a stove but I won't let near any of the cleaning supplies. For someone who is supposed to be a genius, you always find someway to mess up the house."

"I didn't mean to burn your orange shirt."

"Doesn't change the fact you burned my favourite shirt as well as Takao's pants," Naru drawled, picking Katsu up from the ground. "Nope, I rather let Takao or Katsu deal with the housework then you. At least if they did something wrong, I can blame their age or even myself for letting them do it."

"Katsu isn't even old enough to do the housework."

"My point exactly," Sasuke scowled but she just shook her head at him. "If it helps, I would leave the kitchen for you to use. You know how much I love…"

"Mummy and Daddy are being gross." Katsu interrupted before Naru finished the sentence. The redhead glanced down at her son, who had an ugly scowl displayed on his lips. Why must he interrupt them? She cried to herself as she stared into her son's blue eyes. Did he realize just how long Sasuke would be away? She wasn't going to be able to do anything fun until he came back home from his trip. No, her son was still a sweet innocent young boy who had idea about relationships.

She hoped Katsu and Takao wouldn't realize girls until he became jounin but if Takao kept hanging around Ryo then her son might realize girls even sooner then she would like.

If Kami did exist then Naru prayed Takao and Katsu didn't get any serious crushes until they were at least thirteen and don't even start dating until they are fifteen.

"One day Katsu, you will like a girl and want to do gross stuff," Sasuke paused and gazed down at their son's sapphire eyes. "But make sure that if you fall for someone that they are strong and aren't going to be a member of your fangirls. No, you should fall for a girl that is just as beautiful and strong as your mother."

"You know you can't tell him what he should want in a woman," Naru stated. "And what if he falls for a man? You are going to tell our kid that they shouldn't see someone because they are the same gender. I thought we had this discussion before, Sasuke."

"If he falls for a man then I will tell him to find a man that is strong and still good looking," Sasuke retorted. "But until he tells me himself then I am going to tell him like this. And no, we didn't have this discussion Naru. We talked about how even if you have been born a man that I would still have feelings for you because it wouldn't have matter to me."

"Really? Then how would you have resurrected your clan if I had been born a man?"

"I would have always told you to ask Sakura or Hinata to be our surrogate mother," Sasuke stated. "What do you think I would do? Have a relationship with Sakura just because you are a guy? With the things you have done for me, I doubt your feelings would ever compare to her."

"You know she still cares for you, Sasuke and even though she doesn't say it, she still loves you."

If Naru had been any other woman, she would have been worried about Sakura trying to steal Sasuke but Naru knew the two of them. She knew Sasuke had never ever entertained with the idea of being with their pink-haired teammate and would never even think of cheating on her. Sakura might love Sasuke but Naru knew her teammate would rather deal with the heartache then be with a man that would never look at her. No matter what some people of the village thought about the relationship they had, Sakura would never throw herself at a man who didn't love her.

Sakura had a lot more self-respect.

"I know and I care for Sakura like I care for a sister," Sasuke admitted. "I don't even know how you, Sakura and Kakashi forgive me for all the things I put you guys through…"

"Because we are insane like that," Naru suggested, stroking Katsu's hair. "As Kiba would like to point out, we have a very messed up relationship in our team. You think any girl would have been sane enough to marry you after all the things you have done? But the bond Team Seven has is a bond which is forge through a war and missions. You know I hope Takao finds the same kind of bond that we had when he becomes a genin."

"You do realize that you hoped one of his teammates would kill him right?"

Naru blinked her eyes and shook her head. "No way do I want that to happen! If someone even dares to think of laying a hand on Takao then I am going to murder than person in their sleep. No one is allowed to hurt him! I will send...you were joking weren't you?"

"Took you that long to figure out?"

"Well you had a straight face when you said it," Naru protested, cuddling their son closer to her chest. "How the hell was I supposed to know you were joking? If you are going to make a joke then smile."

Sasuke shook his head and glanced at Katsu before looking back at him. He ruffled their son's spiky black hair, which were stubbornly kept in place. Sometimes, Naru wondered how it was possible for Katsu to never have his hair mess up. If she didn't see Sasuke's bed hair, she would have blamed his genes but Naru wondered if there was more to it. No, she might be overthinking things again.

"Naru, if Takao does anything that shouldn't be done without chakra then tell me through one of your summons," Naru felt her smile fall at Sasuke's words. "I know you want to think that it won't happen again but I doubt that contract won't believe me until we have more evidence."

"He only teleported once Sasuke," Naru reminded him. "I know we were lucky he hadn't teleported himself to a warzone but it doesn't mean he would do it again."

"Naru, Takao might need some help in controlling these powers of his," she bit her lips and Sasuke took in a deep breath. "Did you forget how your hair suddenly changed colour? Now I don't want to point fingers but the fact that you were arguing with Takao to eat his vegetables should be an indication that it was him."

"...I know but Takao is terrified of being different," Naru whispered. "He might say what he wants but I am his mother and I know he is uncertain about what is happening to him. I just don't want to give him the reason why he is different. Being different isn't bad but Takao seems to think…"

"You can tell him that being different is fine while I am away," Sasuke said. "If anyone can talk about the perks of being different then it is you, Naru. Out of the two of us, I think Takao would be willing to listen to you because he looks up to you. If you tell him that being different is fine and tell him stories of your own experience then he might just believe you."

"He isn't like the other kids, Sasuke. He doesn't always believe all the things that an adult would say."

"No but he believes in you."

And with those words, Sasuke kissed her cheek, ruffled Katsu's hair before heading out of the house, leaving Naru to contemplate his words.

* * *

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter.


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